


didn't you hear the cries

by EasyPeasyPanic



Series: all of my founders era fics [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, Could also be considered grandpa tobi judging Hiruzen's parenting, Drabble, We'll go with that, aka Tobirama the child napper is here to steal kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 08:01:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23847856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EasyPeasyPanic/pseuds/EasyPeasyPanic
Summary: Hiruzen finds Tobirama in his son's nursery.That's it. That's the story.
Relationships: Sarutobi Hiruzen & Senju Tobirama
Series: all of my founders era fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1718458
Comments: 7
Kudos: 244





	didn't you hear the cries

**Author's Note:**

> this was originally gonna be a full fic with more parts but let's be honest with each other, i was never actually gonna finish this

* * *

It's really his own fault for deciding to become a husband, having a baby, and for deciding to tell Tobirama that he considered him a second father a few years ago. It is  _ really _ his own fault, which is why Hiruzen isn't really all that surprised when he walks into his son's nursery to find his own  _ teacher _ huddled in a rocking chair with his  _ formerly  _ wailing baby. 

"Tobirama-sensei." Hiruzen greets tiredly, rubbing at his eyes. He looked towards the small clock on the wall, the dials turned towards the three. Oh Kami, it was already 3 in the morning, and he had to be up and ready to take the baby over to Biwako's sister before 7 so he could get to the Mission Desk for his usual C-or-B Ranks.  _ Of course _ Biwako chose this week to be out of the village on some humanitarian thing for civilians, and he was stuck dealing with his own teacher and an adorable baby. 

"Saru," Tobirama-sensei replied coolly, letting his student's whining son gnaw and suck on his finger. He was rocking back and forth, and he leveled a stare on Hiruzen. 

A  _ very very  _ unimpressed stare that Hiruzen had long since translated into Tobirama-sensei's way of saying:  _ you've fucked up, monkey boy _ . Which was not what he needed right now.

"I heard the baby was crying."

Hiruzen blinked away his blurred vision, "You heard him crying all the way from your house?" He asked, half-amazed and half-terrified. What  _ else _ could he hear all the way from there? Oh Kami. 

Tobirama-sense scoffs, "I heard him crying from the living room, Saru. Now, don't change the subject, I was..."

"No! No, I think we really need to discuss  _ why _ you were in my house to begin with--"

A very  _ very _ blank stare and a lifted eyebrow. Hiruzen shuts up, snapping his mouth closed so fast his jaw  _ hurt _ s afterwards. 

(He's scarily close to being Water Dragon'd out the window right now, and Tobirama-sensei wouldn't even need to put down the baby to do it.)

"If I could hear him crying from across the house,  _ Saru _ , you could easily have heard him from your room. Now, do you care to explain why you let your child cry for ten minutes unattended?" Tobirama-sensei's voice borders way too close to disgust and accusation for him to get comfortable. Maybe Hiruzen's closer to being hit with a full blown hurricane than just a measly Water Dragon. "Were you so tired that you felt an extra ten minutes of sleep was worth neglecting your child?"

"Sensei, I was  _ awake _ and listening. Shourai is  _ fine _ . It's a new parenting technique that Dr. Yuri  _ and  _ Sana-san recommended to teach them to self soothe, or something, but you let them cry for about fifteen minutes. They either calm down in that time, or I have to come in." Hiruzen explains hastily before he can lose any more of his teacher's respect if that's even possible. Most of it disappeared when he caught him and Biwako fooling around in the closet of the Hokage Tower a year ago. 

(And again in an on-call room. And then once in the Hokage's office.)

Tobirama-sensei blinked. And then blinked again. 

" _ That _ is child cruelty." He said firmly, almost  _ glaring  _ straight through Hiruzen to his soul. He took a step back when his teacher pressed the one year old closer to him, letting the baby nuzzle into the white fur he wore across his shoulders. "Just letting him cry? Thinking he's been abandoned? How long have you been doing this detrimental,  _ cruel _ parenting, Saru?"

And Kami if this doesn't feel exactly like the time he screwed up on a relatively simple mission and got chewed out for it for  _ days _ . 

Hiruzen didn't mean to get defensive, but he did. _So_ quickly. "It was recommended by  _ doctors _ !" He protested, but withered when his teacher stopped rocking in the chair. "Sensei, it wasn't like I was going to ignore him the whole night! We've just been trying to get him to fall back asleep on his own. It'll improve his sleep schedule!"

Tobirama curled around the slobbering one year old defensively, like Hiruzen's entire presence would somehow harm the baby. He raised a single eyebrow, "So because a doctor recommended it, you'll just decide that's the best course of action?"

Whatever Hiruzen says is going to he wrong, he already knows it, but fuck it, he might as well. 

"Yes!" He insisted, waving his arms around to get his point across. "If experienced medical  _ professionals _ advise me to do something with my son, I'm going to listen."

"I see." Tobirama-sensei huffed. Pressed a kiss against  _ Hiruzen's son's  _ cute little forehead. "And if those same experienced medical professionals advised you to jump off the Hokage Monument, you just would, no matter how much harm it causes?"

"Did you really just say that, sensei?" Hiruzen says defeatedly, dragging his hands across his own face slowly and almost painfully. "He was fine."

"He was crying. It was not fine, Saru, you were neglecting him."

"Sensei, it is  _ not  _ neglecting him!" 

"You will wake him, Saru, so quiet yourself." 

Hiruzen shoves a thousand retorts and frustrated and tired screams down his throat and into his chest, locking them away. He crossed his arms, sulking, and feeling thoroughly chastised even though he did  _ nothing  _ wrong. Tobirama-sensei stood suddenly, his lips pursed. He gave Hiruzen a crude once over, shaking his head, laying a cheek against downy brown hair, and scoffing softly. 

"I'm taking him for this evening." He said curtly, even though it was closer to dawn than it was to evening. "As well as all of tomorrow. Perhaps in that time, you can learn to be a decent parent instead of a cruel monster, Saru." 

"Oh my Kami, Tobirama-sensei, it is not that serious." 

"What if I had let you cry and suffer when you were younger? Hmm, Saru? Would you have liked that?"

"One time I burned myself practicing a katon jutsu and you told me to stop crying because _"it doesn't hurt that badly"_. And then you made me run laps."

Tobirama-sensei has no more pity for him now than he did at the time he was actually burned. "Regardless," He said and that was all he said. 

" _ Sensei _ ."

"I'm taking him with me." 

Hiruzen wants to put up a fight. He really does, because he's a good parent with verified parenting methods, and he had been prepared to go and check on his crying infant before his sensei decided to invite himself in.  _ But _ on the other hand, he's so  _ tired _ and done with the whole situation, and he just wants to go back to bed. Plus, if he doesn't have to take his son to Biwako's little sister to babysit, he can even afford to sleep in, and Tobirama-sensei  _ is _ free childcare. 

He goes to give permission for him to take his baby, but Tobirama-sensei is already gone. All that's left behind is a rocking chair that begins to slow. Hiruzen sighed very, very loudly in the empty nursery, and turned to trudge back to his room to get a few more hours of sleep. 

"Wait." He muttered to himself and the bed as he collapsed on it. "Why the hell was he in my house?"

The bed, unfortunately, does not answer. 

* * *


End file.
